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GAME DESIGNER

Gary Gygax

1938 - 2008

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Ernest Gary Gygax ( GHY-gaks; July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008) was an American game designer and author best known for co-creating the pioneering tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) with Dave Arneson. In the 1960s, Gygax created an organization of wargaming clubs and founded the Gen Con gaming convention. In 1971, he co-developed Chainmail, a miniatures wargame based on medieval warfare with Jeff Perren. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Gary Gygax has received more than 2,812,821 page views. His biography is available in 27 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 26 in 2019). Gary Gygax is the 19th most popular game designer (down from 17th in 2019), the 6,297th most popular biography from United States (down from 5,568th in 2019) and the 4th most popular American Game Designer.

Memorability Metrics

  • 2.8M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 47.04

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 27

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 1.71

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.51

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Page views of Gary Gygaxes by language


Among GAME DESIGNERS

Among game designers, Gary Gygax ranks 19 out of 56. Before him are Lizzie Magie, Toru Iwatani, Shigesato Itoi, Shinji Mikami, Hironobu Sakaguchi, and Klaus Teuber. After him are Masahiro Sakurai, Peter Molyneux, Steve Jackson, Will Wright, John Carmack, and Hidetaka Miyazaki.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1938, Gary Gygax ranks 358. Before him are Rafael Osuna, Rolf Wolfshohl, Nikola Kotkov, Gavino Ledda, Kito Lorenc, and Jay Garner. After him are Hariprasad Chaurasia, Fred Williamson, Giorgia Moll, Franco Luambo, Victor Buono, and Aquilino Bocos Merino. Among people deceased in 2008, Gary Gygax ranks 213. Before him are Sarla Thakral, Neil Aspinall, Patrick Hillery, Tom Lantos, Ollie Johnston, and Mustafa Khalil. After him are Nikolai Baibakov, Dith Pran, Badri Patarkatsishvili, Anton Allemann, Elfriede Kaun, and Olga Lepeshinskaya.

Others Born in 1938

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Others Deceased in 2008

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Gary Gygax ranks 6,297 out of 18,182. Before him are Richard Bong (1920), Randy Brecker (1945), William Cullen Bryant (1794), Judd Nelson (1959), Paul H. O'Neill (1935), and William E. Thornton (1929). After him are John Podesta (1949), Christopher Judge (1964), Jorge Garcia (1973), Lucius Shepard (1943), James B. Conant (1893), and Richard Anuszkiewicz (1930).

Others born in United States

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Among GAME DESIGNERS In United States

Among game designers born in United States, Gary Gygax ranks 4. Before him are Gabe Newell (1962), Jeff Kinney (1971), and Lizzie Magie (1866). After him are Steve Jackson (1953), Will Wright (1960), John Carmack (1970), John Romero (1967), Dave Arneson (1947), Ron Gilbert (1964), Roberta Williams (1953), and Scott Cawthon (1971).

American born Game Designers

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